Getting started

• V2 General Guide

  New to Timesact, or moving over from V1? This is your quick tour: what changed, where everything lives, and how to set up your first pre-order (or any other feature). No technical know-how needed. What's new in V2 In V1, every feature had its own separate setup, one for Pre-order, one for Back in Stock, and so on, and you configured them one at a time. V2 brings it all together into one reusable thing called a customer experience template. Think of it as a single setup that can run one fFeatured

• Customer Experience Templates Workflow

  There is no single right way to organize your features. You can keep one feature per customer experience template, or combine several features into one. Both produce the same result on the storefront; the difference is how you manage them. This article shows both, using Pre-Order plus Notify Me as the example. The two building blocks A customer experience template can hold one feature or several. A single variant can have more than one customer experience template attached; they layFeatured

• Adding Products

  Once you've created your customer experience templates, the next step is to add your products and choose which customer experience template applies to each one. You do all of this on the Products page. Where to find it In the app's left menu, click Products. This is where you pick which customer experience template applies to which products, and manage them all in one place. Step 1 —Few readers

Main Functionalities

• Pre-Order

  A purchase feature that replaces the Add to Cart button with a Pre-Order button, so shoppers can buy a product before it's available and have it shipped once it's ready. Overview & core functionality Pre-Order is one of Timesact's purchase features in v2. It replaces the Add to Cart or Sold Out button on your storefront with a Pre-Order button, and sets when the customer is charged and when their order ships. How it fits into v2 In v2, features and their configuration live inside a cFew readers

• Back in Stock

  A notification feature that lets shoppers sign up to be emailed the moment an out-of-stock product is back. What it does When a product or variant is out of stock, Back in Stock shows a sign-up button on your storefront. A shopper leaves their email, and Timesact emails them automatically as soon as the item is back in stock. It is one of Timesact's notification features. How it fits into V2 Like every feature, Back in Stock lives inside a customer experience template, which you seFew readers

• Coming Soon

  A display feature that swaps the Add to Cart button for a non-clickable "Coming Soon" button, so you can tease a product before it launches. What it does Coming Soon replaces the Add to Cart (or Sold Out) button on your storefront with a "Coming Soon" button, so shoppers can see an upcoming product before it is available to buy. It is display only. There is no purchase and no email sign-up, it simply shows the button, and optionally a badge or a countdown timer, to build a bit of hype foFew readers

• Low Stock

  An urgency feature that shows low-stock messaging once a variant's stock drops to a number you set, while the product stays fully buyable. What it does When a variant's available stock falls to or below a number you choose, Timesact shows low-stock messaging on your storefront, a button label, a message, and an optional badge or countdown timer, to create a sense of urgency. The product stays buyable the whole time. Low Stock does not stop the sale, the shopper can still add the item toFew readers

Notifications

• Notifications Overview

  Everything Timesact can send to your customers: what sets off each message, the three channels you can send through, and where to set each one up. You pick the channel per feature, inside each customer experience template, so different products can be handled differently. The messages Timesact can send Back in stock, subscribed — a shopper submits the Notify Me form. Goes to that shopper (a confirmation). Back in stock, ready — a variant someone signed up for is restocked. Goes to eacFew readers

• Notifications - Built in

  Timesact's default channel: transactional emails sent for you, edited in the app, no integration needed. For an overview of all channels and the events Timesact sends, see Notifications Overview. Where the content lives Open Notifications from the main app sidebar (not the one inside a customer experience template). This page has two parts: the sender domain setup and the list of customer notifications. CustomFew readers

• Notifications - Shopify Flow

  Build your own branded, multi-step automations on Timesact events using Shopify's free Flow app. Currently available for Back in Stock only. For how this compares to the other channels, see Notifications Overview If you do not have it yet, install Flow from the Shopify App Store. The triggers Timesact gives you Timesact — Customer Signed Up for Back In Stock Alert — runs when a shopper submits the Notify Me form.Few readers

• Notifications - Klaviyo

  Route Timesact events into Klaviyo so your existing flows, templates, and segments do the sending. For how this compares to the other channels, see Notifications Overview. Connect Klaviyo In the app, open Billing & Account from the main sidebar. Click the Integrations tab. On the Klaviyo card, click Connect. You are redirected to Klaviyo's sign-in screen. Sign in, or pick the account if you have severaFew readers

Markets, Locations and Translations

• Markets and Locations

  Control where a customer experience template applies and which stock it watches. Market scope decides who sees it, inventory location scope decides which stock it reacts to. Both live under Markets & locations inside a customer experience template. The two settings Inside a customer experience template, the Markets & Locations page has two settings that work independently of each other: Market scope (Select market scope) — which shoppers the customer experience template applies to,Few readers

• Translations

  Show your storefront text (the button, message, badge, cart label, Notify Me form, and so on) in each language and market. Translations are done in Shopify's free Translate & Adapt app, not inside Timesact. This guide walks you through it step by step. How translations work Each customer experience template you build is saved as a Shopify item called a Timesact Customer Experience (Shopify calls these "metaobjects"). The text that shows on your storefront lives inside that item, in fieldsFew readers

Pre-Order Settings Explained

• Billing and Partial Payments

  Billing decides how and when the customer is charged for a pre-order. Both options place a real order, the difference is when the money is collected. It is one of the reusable pre-order building blocks, for the overview see How Pre-Orders Work. You set it under Feature settings, Billing. The optional pre-order discount also lives here. Which payment methods work with pre-orders Pre-orders use Shopify's deferred purcFew readers

• How Pre-Orders Work

  What actually happens behind the scenes when you run a pre-order: how it is powered, when it shows, how customers are charged, when it ships, and how stock is handled. This is the concept behind the settings in the Pre-Order *article, written so you understand the mechanics without needing to be technical. The pre-order Feature settings are reusable building blocks, this article gives the overview and links to a dedicated article foFew readers

• Shipping dates

  The shipping date is not just a label. It sets the delivery commitment Shopify records on the pre-order, it is shown to the customer, it decides how the order looks and behaves in your admin, and for deferred or partial payments it can drive when the balance is charged. This article covers all of it, from how you set it to what happens to the order. It is one of the reusable pre-order building blocks, for the overview see [How Pre-Orders Work](https://help.timesact.com/en-us/article/how-pre-orFew readers

• Stock management

  Stock Management decides when the Pre-Order button shows, worked out per variant from the variant's Shopify stock. It is one of the reusable pre-order building blocks, for the overview see How Pre-Orders Work. You set it under Feature settings. How it works Timesact works out a status for each variant from its Shopify stock and the mode you choose, and the storefront shows the matching button. There are three modes.Few readers

• Inventory and Fulfillment

  How a pre-order is fulfilled, when its inventory is reserved, and how out-of-stock items stay buyable. These are reusable pre-order building blocks, for the overview see How Pre-Orders Work. You set these under Feature settings. Deferred fulfillment A pre-order is placed now but fulfilled later. The shipping date you set travels with the order and is shown to the customer, so they know when to expect the item. WhenFew readers

• Pre-Order Limit

  The pre-order limit caps how many pre-orders you accept, so you do not commit to more than you can deliver. It is one of the reusable pre-order building blocks, for the overview see How Pre-Orders Work. How to set it Pre-order quantity is Unlimited by default. To cap it, turn Unlimited off and enter a number in the pre-order quantity setting (available when you configure the customer experience template on a productFew readers

Managing Pre-Orders in Shopify

• Remove from On Hold

  Pre-order orders are often kept on a fulfillment hold so they do not ship before your stock arrives. When you are ready to ship, you release the hold. This is done in Shopify, on the order, and it is the step that lets a held pre-order become fulfillable. What "on hold" means On the order in Shopify, the unfulfilled items show an On hold status. A hold is a deliberate block that stops the items from being fulfilled, put there by you, or by an app or automation, so a pre-order does not goFew readers

• Shipping Profiles and Locations

  Shipping profiles control which shipping rates a customer is offered, based on which products they are buying and which location those products ship from. They matter for pre-orders because pre-order items often ship later, or from a different location, than your in-stock items, and you may want them priced or handled differently. This is all set in Shopify. What a shipping profile is A shipping profile is a set of shipping rules for specific products and locations. Every Shopify store haFew readers

• Shopify Order Tags

  Timesact automatically tags pre-order orders in Shopify. Those tags let you filter your Orders list down to just pre-orders and save that as a permanent view, so you can find and work them in one place instead of hunting through every order. This is all done in Shopify. The tags Timesact adds When a pre-order is placed, Timesact tags the Shopify order automatically, you do not add these by hand: Pre-order — added to every order that contains a pre-order item. Partial Pre-order — addeFew readers

• Modify Charge Date

  On a pre-order with a deferred or partial payment, the remaining balance is scheduled to be charged on a set date. You can move that date, earlier or later, by editing the order's payment terms in Shopify. This changes when the customer is charged for the balance, and nothing else. Before you start This applies only to pre-order orders that still have a balance owing. On the order you will see a payment status of Partially paid or Unpaid, and a Payment pending section showing the amount oFew readers

• Capture Partial Payment Early

  When a pre-order was placed with a partial payment, the customer paid a deposit (or nothing) at checkout and the rest is scheduled to be collected later. If you need that remaining balance sooner, for example because the product is ready to ship ahead of schedule, you can collect it early. This is done in Shopify, on the order itself, not in Timesact. Before you start This applies to pre-order orders that still have a balance owing. On the order in Shopify you will see: A payment statuFew readers

• Analytics

  See how your customer experience templates are performing, from sign-ups and orders through to revenue and conversion. Analytics is split into pre-order reports and Notify Me (back in stock) reports, each with its own breakdowns. Where to find it Open Analytics from the main app sidebar. The landing page lists every report, grouped into Pre-order and Notify Me (Back in Stock). Click any report to open its detail page. ![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/c/9/b/3/c9b393Few readers

• Testing and Troubleshooting

  How to test a customer experience template before you launch it, and how to fix the most common things that look wrong. Almost everything comes down to a variant's status, its stock, or where the customer experience template is scoped, all of which you can check yourself in a couple of minutes. Before you go live Run through this quick checklist on any product you are about to launch: The customer experience template has the feature you want, and that feature shows as Active on the FeaFew readers